Test fixture isolates NVMe U.2 drives in data storage system

16 May 2016

Teledyne LeCroy

The PCIe Dual Port U.2 Transposer Set from Teledyne packs four adapters, each of which delivers a unique test configuration required by various mission critical systems.

Teledyne LeCroy has brought to market dual port U.2 test fixtures used for isolating NVMe U.2 drives for data storage system testing. According to the company, the text fixtures (called transposers) are offered as a set of four adapters, each of which delivers a unique test configuration for isolating dual port U.2 drives in data storage systems, which is very essential in mission critical systems.

The transposer is inserted between the NVMe U.2 backplane and the U.2 connector on a dual port NVMe drive. Transposers can be interchanged to provide a variety of test configurations, which helps engineers configure specific channels for individual test, allowing performance issues to be quickly identified and isolated to a specific SSD or Host channel.
The set of four transposers features the following configurations: Host Port A to SSD Port A (SSD Port B is masked); Host Port B to SSD Port B (SSD Port A is masked); Host Port A to SSD Port B (SSD Port A is masked); and Host Port B to SSD Port A (SSD Port B is masked).

In addition to the ability to isolate and re-route ports, all of the four transposers have the ability to control the DP_EN# (dual port enable) signal through a simple switch on the transposer, and provide a set of electrical test points to allow engineers to directly monitor status and control signals.